A Discussion on the Importance of Purpose
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Happy New Year! Hope your year is off to a wonderful start.
As we embark on the start of a new calendar year, we are often overwhelmed by society with conversations circulating about resolutions, goals, new regimens and more. While this is all very good for internal reflection, it can also feel a bit arduous to navigate. How do you set new goals if you’re not entirely sure of what you’re wanting to contribute to the world? How do you create resolutions without having an understanding of your purpose?
The topic is incredibly important because through the lens of purpose, a leader has the opportunity to connect with someone else, to influence and communicate with intention. Being in touch with your purpose and communicating it clearly to others can be a very powerful tool.
Last month, I had a conversation with a group of international women in business about what purpose means. We talked about the many facets of purpose including how one identifies with purpose and the importance of purpose as it applies to both our personal and work lives. We asked ourselves some of the deeper questions including:
How do you define your purpose?
Do you feel you have a strong sense of purpose?
What are the challenges you face about staying true to your purpose?
Is there a moment in time when you doubted your purpose?
How do you keep nourishing/fueling your purpose?
During the enriching conversation, members of the group shared their own unique personal experiences which were incredibly relatable.
As we began the discussion, Rihab noted that she remembers the exact moment when she started to question what motivated her and her core. She was living in Jordan at the time and driving with family between two cities, which was a two-hour drive. Along the way, by just observing life outside the car, she noticed that things were not fair. She was really young and fairness was a strong concept at that specific age. As she noticed life wasn't fair, it made her wonder: why wasn’t life fair? And what can she do to change that? It’s this kind of questioning and having conversations and connections with family and a close network - trying to understand what it was about life that created her purpose which made it more clear.
While purpose was not always a conscious understanding, Alison shared that she has often felt that subconsciously she has always known her purpose. However, she has questioned if at times she has always followed her purpose. For her, it’s the constant curiosity and questioning that has actually served her, and will continue to serve her as she continues to dedicate herself to the impact that she would like to have on this world. It is really the intimate connections, the person-to-person connections that have restored the sense of purpose for her.
For Nora, the question on purpose has been an alternate between a struggle and a motivator. She never felt that she was 100% fulfilled until she found a connection. And this took many shapes such as impact work, making a friend, mentoring someone… It was always the effect rather than the “What”. She has grown to accept that she is one of those people who does not have that one crisp purpose and it’s mainly the outcome that she seeks.
The conversation about being in touch or not being in touch with purpose was really wonderful as in my experience working with various leaders, and diverse people on the same topic, I find that it’s not that people don’t have a sense of their purpose, but often they are not distinguished about it. In other words, there is a sense of purpose, but upon looking back at life experience, stories, etc., we can distinguish our core values and these core values help one distinguish one’s sense of purpose. Most often, people have a sense of what their purpose is within themselves, but they have not distinguished it and fully owned it. To distinguish this we can ask questions like:
What did I do in my past that held meaning for me?
What was my highest contribution?
What was the highest contribution of my efforts today?
Why am I doing what I am doing?
Rihab shared that “sometimes we live our purpose outside the workplace. Work is not the only place we live our purpose. It could be activities or engagements we are doing in our personal lives which could be or is our purpose, and it’s important to distinguish this.”
Rachna continued, sharing that “I often struggle with the notion of where purpose belongs: does it belong at work, or outside of work? Can I bring it to work? Can it be integrated? It’s still a work in progress for me, I don’t have all the answers, but what has helped me is, exploring if the work I do has meaning. Is it meaningful to me? Can I be intentional with it? Do I really care about it? Am I spending my time and effort on the right thing?”
Alison contributed that “we also need to consider that purpose can shift over time, which could be a result of external factors, for example being a full-time employee who is unmarried and has no children to getting married, playing a bigger role in the family, or having children. A major shift in personal life can also create a shift in your sense of purpose, or help uncover a greater sense of purpose and the impact one wants to have in this world.”
Loren shared that one thing that has been resonating with her lately is staying present. She noted that “I have noticed that when I am intentionally present I feel a real connection with my purpose. It took a while for me to articulate my purpose, but now I am able to simplify my purpose.”
When I work with my clients, I remind them that the purpose is overarching the way of being: the meaning behind your contribution. This kind of contribution can be manifested in many ways. But there is a being and doing. The purpose is the being, the meaning, the why and you can remain true to your purpose, but the way you accomplish or implement it could be different.
One must review one’s Core Values: How do you make them practical and applicable? For example the goal of being sustainable, practically how do you lead a sustainable life? The challenge then becomes looking for ways to remain sustainable, not to operate from a place of scarcity. Not to operate on an empty tank and manage energy and time. Core values need to be crystal clear: you need to introspect and come up with a plan to implement core values.
How do your core values come through in daily life? The guiding questions can be:
What is the meaning of this?
Why am I doing this?
What is the highest achievement of my effort?
In our quest for purpose we can sometimes lose ourselves. A good way to find your way back is to ask for feedback:
Why is our connection important?
What am I bringing to you?
Why do you value having me in your network?
Also, it’s important to share this discussion within your circle of esteemed colleagues. Others may have a better view of our purpose and contribution - because there can be a disconnect between what you think your contribution is and what they perceive your contribution to be and value for. Your impact can be on a single person, or hundreds or thousands of people, but the fact remains that you are still making an impact.
Now I’d like to hear from you. Do you have a clear sense of purpose? What does purpose mean to you? I’m very interested in working with clients on this subject, feel free to send me a note if you’d like to find out more.
To Your Success,
Coaching Practices
Take Action and Put it into Practice
The discussion around purpose is important in that it also puts us in touch with our Core Values. How do you make your Core Values practical and applicable?
For example, with the goal of being sustainable, what is the practicality of how you lead a sustainable life? The challenge then becomes looking for ways to remain sustainable, not to operate from a place of scarcity. Not to operate on an empty tank and learn how to manage your energy and time.
Core values need to be crystal clear: you need to look within and understand how you can implement your core values in your daily life.
Take some time to reflect on the following:
What did I do in my past that held meaning for me?
What was my highest contribution?
What was the highest contribution of my efforts today?
Why am I doing what I am doing?